It's the preseason for everyone - and that includes those wearing stripes.
Penalty flags came early and often for last weekend's somewhat sloppy exhibition match between the Miami Dolphins and Detroit Lions. Announcer Jason Bennetti's call of "There's a marker on the field" became nearly a cliché, as both teams combined for 22 accepted penalties.
For context, adding up their per-team totals, Miami and Detroit were called for 12.9 penalties per game in 2024 - and Referee Adrian Hill's officiating crew threw an average 13.6 flags last season.
Several of those calls were questioned on-air, particularly a pair of holding penalties called on the offensive line. Those kinds of ticky-tacky penalties are just part of the game, though. But on Saturday, the officials were particularly flag-happy, to the point where Bennetti and former Lion T.J. Lang joked at one point that they were throwing flags "just in case there was a penalty".
Lions game inundated with penalties vs. Dolphins
On four separate occasions, beginning around halfway through the 2nd quarter, Hill had to announce that a flag had been thrown in error. Once, maybe twice in a game, sure...four times though?
One call in particular may have raised some eyebrows, however. With just over nine minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter, Jack Fox lofted a short 39 yard punt to Dolphins returner A.J. Henning, who promptly muffed the catch around Miami's 32 yard line.
Rookie 7th round draft pick Dominic Lovett, in yet another example of showing out in an attempt to make the final roster, scooped up the bouncing ball and raced the opposite way, only being taken down inside the 5 yard line.
Unfortunately, despite Bennetti's call of "It's a live ball!", Hill called the run back and declared, "By rule, the ball cannot be advanced." But which rule was it, and why did it apply here?
According to Rule 3, Section 24, Article 5: "A fair catch kick play begins when the ball is kicked. It ends when a player of either team establishes possession of the ball, or when the ball is dead by rule."
That's not a typo, by the way. With the way the NFL Rulebook is laid out, there can be multiple "plays" within a single snap - hence this rule specifying the play begins when kicked, not when snapped.
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Back to the rule in question, to explain the reasoning: Because Henning called for a fair catch, players from both teams could ease up, as he would not be allowed to run the ball back. Since players are just winding down the play at that point, it's somewhat unfair to ask them to ramp back up again - especially if one side could advance the ball, but the other side can't.
So, since Henning muffed the punt, all Lovett could do was to gain possession - his great run after scooping up the ball may or may not have been assisted by the fact that Dolphins players slowed down, as the play was more or less over for their purposes. Rather than try and sort that out via any kind of video review, the NFL just says the play is dead once either team gains possession.
Of course, this only applies to fair catches. Had Henning been attempting to field the ball and continue the play, then it would have been a live ball and eligible for advancement.
In this case, it was a vital, potentially game-changing call. Instead of the ball being placed somewhere around the 4 yard line, it was spotted at the 27. Hooker's offense sputtered out, again, settling for a field goal and the Lions' only points in the second half.
Regardless of how the rest of the game was called, this play was correctly officiated - though viewers could be forgiven for second-guessing the refs.
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